1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a method for assembling a vehicle on a continuously moving assembly line.
2. Prior Art
Manufacturers of mass-produced vehicles, both cars and light trucks, constantly strive to reduce the cost of manufacture while at the same time increase the quality of the product. The increased complexity of vehicles has made this job more difficult than it was in the past. The accepted practice for mass producing vehicles is to use a continuously moving assembly line attended by operators each of whom is assigned a specific task or tasks to complete on each vehicle.
The fact that the assembly line does move continuously frequently prevents an operator from rectifying an unsuccessfully completed task. Unsuccessful completion of a task may be due to numerous factors, many of which are beyond the control of the operator. A screw may be improperly formed, there may be misalignment of openings and many similar misadventures which are inherent in the building of any product. However, there is frequently not time for an operator to correct a defect before a vehicle moves past him on the assembly line. Sometimes an operator may not be able to complete an operation at all before the vehicle moves by him. For example, he may run out of a part or his tools may not operate correctly. On other occasions, one of the tasks of an operator may be to check the operational characteristics of a group of connected tasks that were completed earlier, the totality of which may not operate correctly. An opertor's task may be simply to determine whether or not prior task completions have been effectively accomplished.
In the past, various efforts have been made to cope with the above-discussed assembly problems. Such coping has frequently taken the form of manually noting such conditions and passing this information on to repair people. It has been difficult to provide space to accommodate repair personnel while at the same time continuing to perform assembly operations. Quite often, it has been necessary to remove a vehicle from the continuously moving assembly line, either at the end of assembly opertions or at some intermediate point, and transport it to a station where correction of defects is made. Obviously, such a procedure is inherently inefficient and may not result in discovery and correction of all defects.
In accordance with the present invention, a method is provided for assembling a vehicle on a continuously moving assembly line wherein the operators communicate information to a central computer concerning successful or unsuccessfuly completion of tasks. This information is retrieved by other operators located along the continuously moving assembly line whose responsibility it is to cure any defects which occur. These operators have information readily available to them via the central computer to give them a running knowledge of the condition of each partially assembled vehcile which passes by them. The net result is improved vehicle quality while at the same time maintaining efficient assembly of vehicles.